Groves of green gold

Avocado supply, quality and demand are all up this year

Juan Carlo / Star Staff
As the machines sort through the avocados, workers at the Mission packinghouse in Oxnard pushed the avocados through, so they can be put in boxes and shipped all over the U.S. As Mission Produce amps up to meet demand for Cinco de Mayo, the company will ship 32 million pounds a week. The consumption of avocados is up about 15 percent every year.

Steve Barnard, CEO of Mission Produce in Oxnard, says there’s pent-up demand for avocados that this year’s good crop and fruit quality should be able to meet.

Juan Carlo / Star Staff
Carina Ceja sorts through the avocados at the Mission Produce packinghouse in Oxnard, from which boxes are sent all over the U.S. As Mission Produce amps up to meet demand for Cinco de Mayo, the company will ship 32 million pounds a week. The consumption of avocados is up about 15 percent every year.

For years, bananas have been advertised as the perfect food, but Steve Barnard doesn't think so.

"I think it's getting dislodged," said Barnard, CEO of Oxnard-based Mission Produce Inc., an avocado importer, packer and shipper. "I think the avocado is giving it a run for its money."

Global demand has blossomed for the green fruit, once considered an expensive luxury. Touted for its energizing nutritional qualities, the avocado has turned up on lists of superfoods and as an Oprah favorite.

As Mission Produce amps up to meet demand for Cinco de Mayo, the company has been shipping about 32 million pounds of avocados a week — and that's just in the United States.

"We're shipping record numbers," Barnard said.

After three years of light crops due to a major freeze in 2007 and a heat spell in 2008 that affected last year's supply, it's finally a robust year for avocado growers.

"Finally, the trees have recovered and we're off and running," Barnard said. "It's not a record, but it's a larger crop."

About 84 million pounds of avocados are expected to be consumed around Cinco de Mayo, with outstanding quality fruit from California in abundance this year, said Jan DeLyser, vice president of marketing for the California Avocado Commission.

Barnard estimates a 20 percent increase in consumption this year, which had previously been hampered by lack of supply.

There's pent-up demand, Barnard said, that's being met by good value and good prices.

"Last year, prices got extremely high, and there were early shipment of slow maturity fruit, which really turned off the consumer," he said.

California this year will produce about 470 million pounds of avocados, compared with a historic light crop of 170 million pounds last year, DeLyser said.

Ventura County produced $63.4 million worth of avocados in 2008, the latest year for which statistics are available. They ranked seventh on the county's 2008 crop-value list. In 2006, before the freeze and heat, the county's crop netted $87 million.

In 2009, many growers in the southern district were required to reduce water use by 30 percent, so they stumped their groves — cut their trees and took them out of production, DeLyser said.

"This year, we've had ideal growing conditions, good rains, ideal temperatures and a good fruit set on the fruit trees," she said.

The external quality of the fruit is "gorgeous," DeLyser said, adding that it tastes as good as it looks. "It's got the full nutty, buttery flavor."

While last year's shortage meant volume started winding down in July and was finished in early August, growers anticipate this year's volume will remain strong through October.

"This was a good, good year for growing avocados," said Lee Cole, president and CEO of Calavo Growers Inc. in Santa Paula, a leading marketer of avocados and other fresh produce.

Demand requires imports

Despite this year's heavier crop, demand for avocados far exceeds California's supply, making the state reliant on imports from Mexico and Chile.

During the past three years, the United States consumed about 1 billion pounds of avocados each year, the majority imported from Mexico, Cole said.

This year, U.S. consumers are expected to consume 1.3 billion to 1.5 billion pounds, of which Chile will supply about 250 million pounds; California, 470 million pounds; and the remainder from Mexico.

"It's definitely going to be a growth year for avocados," Cole said. "Consumers have been waiting for the fruit."

Consumption of avocados has increased about 15 percent annually for the past seven or eight years, Cole said.

Despite the healthy increase in supply, Cole doesn't expect to see much decline in prices.

Growers are fetching about 65 cents a pound for small avocados and about $1 a pound for large ones, he said.

Part of the reason for the avocado's burgeoning popularity has been a strong push from avocado commissions in Mexico, Chile and the United States. Among the three organizations, about $50 million is spent annually on advertising the fruit, Cole said.

Cinco de Mayo push

The California Avocado Commission will kick into full gear during this week of Cinco de Mayo through September, promoting avocados and plugging their nutritional value on the radio, billboards and in stores, DeLyser said.